9.  The applicant, a German national, was born in 1939. He lives in Germany.
10.  On 30 August 1995 he was arrested in Denmark, charged with aggravated tax fraud for an unknown amount, however exceeding 500,000 Danish kroner (DKK) and relating to the period 1990‑1995. Having consented to the seizure of his car and having agreed that his real estate in Denmark be provided as security, the applicant was released the following day after a court hearing held before the City Court in Vordingborg (Retten i Vordingborg).
11.  The tax authorities (Told og Skat, Næstved) alleged that since 1990 the applicant had lived in Denmark to such an extent that he was liable to pay taxes, and thus carried out an investigation of the applicant’s tax assessment. The applicant disputed the assessments, notably on the grounds that he had paid tax in Germany, from where his business was run.
12.  On 14 November 1995 the police requested that the City Court in Vordingborg issue an order for discovery to procure documents from the applicant’s accountants, lawyer and bankers in Germany. However by request of the applicant’s counsel, it was agreed that counsel together with the applicant procured the relevant documents. The documents were handed in on 7 October 1996 by the applicant, who in the meantime had changed counsel. The tax authorities changed their assessment on several occasions; once after it had been established on 10 March 1997 that the statements of accounts procured by the applicant (and his counsel) from a German bank were erroneous, and many times due to the applicant’s objections. On 16 June 1998 a final assessment was made, which the applicant appealed against on 11 September 1998 to the National Taxation Board (Landsskatteretten), where the case is still pending.
13.  On 19 April 1999 the prosecution submitted an indictment to the City Court in Vordingborg claiming that the applicant had evaded tax in the amount of DKK 57,252 as to the period 1990-1991, during which he had allegedly stayed illegally in Denmark. Hearings were scheduled to take place on 4 and 5 November 1999. The applicant was convicted in accordance with the indictment by judgment of 12 November 1999. He was sentenced to a fine of DKK 57,000.
As to legal costs the court stated:
“[The applicant] shall pay legal costs. In view of the fact that [the applicant] was arrested on 30 August 1995 and appeared before this court on 31 August 1995 charged with tax evasion of an unknown amount of not less than DKK 500,000, but now following a very lengthy investigation, is being charged with and convicted of tax evasion to an extent which is quite limited compared to the original charge, the court finds that the Treasury should pay the fees to the assigned counsel for the defence.”
Accordingly, the applicant was exempted from paying fees to counsel in the amount of DKK 117,500 including VAT.
14.  On 24 November 1999 the applicant appealed against the judgment to the High Court of Eastern Denmark (Østre Landsret). The Regional Public Prosecutor claimed that the judgment be upheld, including the part exempting the applicant from defraying fees to counsel. The applicant’s appeal was not received by the High Court until 1 February 2000 as pursuant to the Administration of Justice Act (Retsplejeloven) the notice of appeal and the indictment had to be served on the applicant through the German authorities.
15.  In the meantime, on 8 January 2000, the applicant requested that the prosecution initiate additional investigation concerning some of his accounting material. He found that he was entitled to further deduction in the tax assessment than those on which the City Court judgment was based. For this purpose, having complied with his request, the prosecution sent the case-files back to the police. On 24 February 2000 a meeting was held between the applicant’s counsel, the police and the Customs and Tax office. Counsel produced copies of the applicant’s ledger from 1990 and 1991 and was granted permission to reconcile the accounts with the exhibits produced. On 17 May 2000, since the police had not received any reconciled accounts from counsel, the case-files were returned to the prosecution.
16.  On 24 August and 25 October 2000 the prosecution informed the High Court of the expected duration of the trial, which was estimated to last one or two days. On 14 February 2001 the High Court scheduled the case for trial to commence on 30 May 2001.
17.  On 23 May 2001, having received information from counsel that the National Taxation Board would reach its decision within a short time the Regional State Prosecutor requested that the High Court adjourn the trial. It appears that shortly thereafter the High Court adjourned the case awaiting the outcome of the case before the National Taxation Board as it was presumed that its decision could be of importance to the determination of the criminal proceedings.
18.  On 28 August 2001 oral proceedings were conducted before the National Taxation Board, during which it was agreed that counsel should submit a new comprehensive pleading with exhibits, thereby replacing all previous pleadings with exhibits. On 13 November, by counsel’s request, the time-limit to submit his pleading with exhibits was extended until 1 December 2001 by the National Taxation Board. On 4 January 2002, not having received the said pleading with exhibits, the National Taxation Board stated that unless submitted by 1 February 2002 the case would be decided on the evidence available. It appears that no decision has been taken by the National Taxation Board.
19.  On 22 May 2003 the High Court passed judgment in the criminal trial. It acquitted the applicant as to the part of the indictment that concerned his alleged illegal stay in Denmark as the criminal liability was time‑barred. It upheld the City Court judgment as to the tax evasion part, but amended the sentence to a fine of DKK 10,000 by stating as follows:
“The sentence is fixed pursuant to section 15 of the Tax Control Act cf. now Consolidation Act no. 726 of 13 August 2001.
Accordingly, the basis for fixing the fine justly due would be a fine of DKK 50,000.
The total length of the proceedings from the charge was made in connection with [the applicant’s] arrest on 29 August 1995 and until judgment was passed by the City Court on 12 November 1999 was four years and two and a half month, and the length of the proceedings from the City Court’s judgment until the present judgment has been about three and a half years.
When the proceedings started, the tax authorities believed that the evasion concerned taxable amounts of approximately DKK 2.5 millions. At the statutory hearing [before the City Court on 30 August 1995] the charge made concerned evasion of tax payment of not less than DKK 500,000, but during the City Court trial the indictment related to tax evasion of DKK 57,252 only. In the intermediate period, according to the information disclosed, there had been numerous contacts between the tax authorities and [the applicant] and his counsel concerning the computation of the allegedly evaded amount, and the proceedings had also been pending for a long time on [the applicant’s] own possibility of procuring relevant evidence from Germany. 
After the City Court judgment was passed, at the public prosecutor’s request, since 25 May 2001 the proceedings [in the present case] awaited the proceedings that were pending before the National Taxation Board.
 Upon an overall assessment of the length of the proceedings from the charge was made until the High Court trial, the High Court finds that [the applicant’s] right to a trial within a reasonable time pursuant to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights has been violated.
In view of this, the fine justly due to be paid by [the applicant] is fixed to DKK 10,000. 
When determining the compensation to which [the applicant] is entitled according to the above, the court has taken into consideration that, although he was found guilty by the City Court judgment almost to the extent stated in the indictment, he was exempted completely from paying costs ... ”
20.  The applicant’s request for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment to the Supreme Court (Højesteret) was refused by the Leave to Appeal Board (Procesbevillingsnævnet) on 18 December 2003.